On this day in 1850, a sensational murder trial began in Boston. Both the victim and the accused belonged to the city's social elite. The case had been closely followed ever since the dismembered body of Dr. George Parkman was found in a cellar at Harvard Medical School. John Webster, a professor at the medical school, was charged with the grisly crime. The motive? Webster owed Parkman money. After being convicted of the murder, Webster confessed that when Parkman badgered him for payment, he "forgot everything" and in his fury "seized whatever thing was handiest and dealt him an instantaneous blow with all the force that passion could give it." John Webster was hanged in Boston on August 30, 1850.

On this day in 1892, a prosperous banker and his wife were hacked to death with a hatchet in their Fall River home. Suspicion immediately focused on the man's unmarried 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden. Basing...

On this day in 1798, the Massachusetts legislature paraded solemnly from the Old State House to its quarters in a new building at the top of Beacon Hill. Designed by Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch, the...

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